Chapter 7

I start my journey out of the crime scene with the thought to go and meet Arthur.

There are two rooms left in the house to examine : the room which lies beside the kitchen, dining room, and the living room at the front part of the house.

"Let's see their dining room first,"

I slowly open the wooden door of the dining room and set my foot into the room.

It is a dark room just like the others. Compared to the other rooms in the house, the size of the room looks a little cramped, maybe because of the magnificent timber cupboard with the glass doors, which is standing at the right side. Through the glass, the shining white plates and tea cups with beautiful flower pattern decorations can be seen lining up inside the cupboard. In front of the cupboard lies a majestic wooden table, which is big enough for more than 7 people to have their meals together on it. The enormous table legs are standing mightly with the sparkling oil coated on it. At the sides of the table, two chairs are also made of timber, which looks as majestic as the table are staring at each other. In this immaculate room, not a single stain of dirt can be seen with the naked eye of a person.

Nothing useful about the crime is there.

I think as I step outside of the room and go according to the path to go to the living room.

At the end of the path is a living room and the entrance of the house. The living room is twice as large as the other room since it is not divided by the path.

On the right side is a small table fitting together with three chairs. Behind them lies a spectacular window with an emerald colour curtain attached to it. The left side of the room is decorated mainly with wooden shelfs full of colourful handcrafted figures of elephat, bear, and many different kinds of animals. In the middle of the shelfs lie a window, which is the same as the one on the right side.

I pick up one of the figures from the shelf and examine it from top to bottom.

It is a human figure about 3 inches made of white moonstone.

I am not sure if it's moonstone or not since this is in another world, but it looks like a moonstone.

It is carefully crafted by a skilful hand. The details are very clear and tidy. The veins of the body, each of which exists in the human body, are clearly described in the figure.

What a skilful person.

I put down the figure back on the shelf and prepare a motion to go outside of the house through the front door.

Whoosh....

The moment the front door opens, a cold breeze which carries the scent of the wet grasses gush into the house. Everything is so quiet and cold. Only the sound of the night wind flowing through my long hair can be heard sometimes. The chatterings from the house at the back also get quiet.

It seems they went home.

However, the guards at the front entrance of the yard are still there.

With the head occupied with the thoughts and theories of the crime, I walk step after step according to the stone path, which is crafted in the middle of green and beautiful grassy yard.

Looking at the way eyewitnesses say, Arthur most likely went in and out of the house from the front. If he is not a culprit, then what was he doing here? He is a protective brother who would do anything to support his sister. Sarah said they sell vegetables which they planted and rare flowers picked up in the Emerald plain for their livelihood.

Was he got paid to do something other thing in here and got used as a shield?

It is not impossible.

In any case, I might need to inspect the yard.

I start wandering around the yard in the midst of darkness and examine the glassy ground.

Nothing unusual can be seen.

"Was I just overthinking?"

After walking around the whole yard and found nothing, the thought of giving up begins to emerge in my mind.

!?

However, that thought gets immediately blown away when the sight of a small plant goes into my eyes.

It is at the left-top corner of the yard. A small and thin plant about half a meter long is standing independently on the ground. Aside from the flower pots, there are no plants in the yard except that small plant.

I might have overlooked it because of the darkness when I examined the yard. But it is bizarre.

Normally, when people plant a tree, they usually plant it at the place where they can see it easily and clearly like the front or back of the house. And there is this small plant which is too small to even find is being planted alone at the cramped corner of the yard?

Suspicious...

With the suspicion in the heart, I walk toward the small plant and then crawl on the ground to examine the base of the plant carefully.

The roots of the plant look so loose and weak. It is barely attaching the ground like a newly planted tree.

Is this planted just recently? Or maybe...

My facial expression started to change. The edges of the lips are moving upward on their own, and my white and tiny teeth become visible. Yes, I am smiling very widely. I can't even suppress my excitement and joy from showing on the face.

''Let's dig!!!!''

With enthusiasm and hope of finding a major clue of the case, I start digging the dirt at the base of the plant with both of my hands.

Because of the weak ground, it is very easy to dig even with bare hand. The small plant is easily pulled out from the ground with just a couple of digs.

Let's dive into deep.

As I dig deeper into the hole, I start to notice that my hope and desires get shattered.

It is because even though I reach a depth where the ground is no longer soft, I cannot find anything. Literally nothing comes out except the dirt.

Seriously?

I think as I look at my small and pale girlish hands covered in filthy dirts. Now that I have noticed about my appearance, I look down at my shirt and pants. The knee areas of my brown pants are stained in crimson colour blood mixed with dirts. The white shirt literally turns into yellow and mud, and dirts are sticking all over it.

I look like a kid who just played in heavy rain.

''Hahahahahahahahahaha''

The urge to laugh my heart out gets out of control deep from my chest and goes rampage without the care in the world. The brain ruling over my body from the top is informing me just how funny the situation I am in.

Oh!?

Only after laughing my ass off, the fact that there are guards in front of the house crosses my mind.

I desperately suppress my laughter and take a look at the front gate.

"They heard!"

The two guards are coming into the yard cautioustly and slowly. They are approaching the house step by step with wooden sticks griping tightly in the hands.

I suddenly crawl down on the grassy ground to hide to avoid their sight.

There is no way they will see me in this darkness. I will just dart out of the yard from the front gate the moment they go into the house. So please just pass through me.

???

Fuck!! They are coming straight toward me!

Thud. Thud.

The faint sound of the footsteps on the grasses is approaching me. And they suddenly halt right in front of me.

"Hey, what is that?"

"I don't know, you go and examine it,"

"What? You go!"

"Okay, let's go together,"

They are whispering to each other.

"Hey..."

While calling me out, their hands start approaching me.

Tsk. I got caught.

With my head overflowing with the bad mood, I suddenly stand up with the speed of wind and prepare to just face the two of them.

"Aghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"

"Ackkk!!!!!!!"

What the!?

However, the moment I stand up and look at their faces, they suddenly freeze and scream their asses off with terrified expressions. Then they give their back to me without delay and gallop out of the yard as if a monster is chasing them while leaving me completely spechless and confused.

The whole environment is filled with their high-pitched screams and the gentl sound of the wind, which blows from time to time.

Thinking about the reason they ran away, I also turn my head around and look behind me, but there is literally nothing except the empty yard.

"Did they see a ghost or something?"

Anyway, this is my chance to get out.

Without letting the chance slip by, I also get out of the yard from the front gate and make my way to the place where Arthur is, probably.

According to Sarah, there is a place where they used to go together with their late-mom when they were young. A place that holds a lot of dear and precious memories in their hearts.

So I thought that he would be there knowing absolutely nothing what to do or how to deal with this case.

I go out of the village and walk toward the north of it, into the Emerald field. The pleasant smell of the flowers hiding in the midst of the green grasses is bursting into my nose with the flow of night wind. The grasses are dancing elegantly like skilful ballet dancers under the jet-black sky accessorized by countless stars, which are sparkling like immaculate gems.

Looking at the breathtaking scenery while walking, a single thought pops up in my mind.

"NATUE IS BEAUTIFUL"

After walking for about 20 minutes to the north, a single secenery appears in my sight.

I've arrived.

A teenage boy is sitting beside a small pond while giving his back to me. He is blankly staring at the surface of the pond. However, the pond is not filled with sparkling water and colourful flowers like those in fairytails. Instead, it is filled with filthy water with the colour of mud and dry and filthy bushes, and plants are sticking out chaotically and covering most areas of the surface. The smell it is giving off is not a pleasant aroma of divine flowers but rather the strong smell of rotten fish smell mixed with the astrocious smell of sewage.

I approach Arthur from behind with slow and calm steps and stand just behind him, who is idly gazing at the water with dead eyes.

"What a disgusting secenery" the words come out of my mouth in a loud and clear tone.

Arthur slowly turns around and looks at me. He is really in a bad state. The whole body is being covered in dirt and filths. On the face, trails of the tears can be seen clearly because of the dirt sticking to them. The doubting eyes of him are filled with enormous drops of tears. The face of regret and hatred.

"It used to be so beautiful. We spent our sunny afternoons here with mom and sis. I always tried to go into there and swim, but sis and mom would always pull me from the shirt to stop it. I can still remember their big smiles on the face. But look at this, what a terrible state it is in. Maybe this pond was always like this, and only our imaginations were making it look beautiful. "

Athur say weakly.

"Did you come here to arrest me?"

Sigh. He totally gave up on everything, huh? Without even resisting.

"I came here to help you,"

"Help me? Are you telling me to believe it when a total stranger is saying that he will help for free?"

"Then consider this a payback for the help I receive from you guys."

"B-but, what can you even do?"

"Just believe me. I have the ability to take you out of this mess. And it does not hurt to try rather than surrending, right?"

"..."

"Let's hear your story."

"......"

Hmmm..... I see. I see. That is how it is, huh?

"Arthur, I have a plan. Can you do exactly what I tell you?"

"..."

"We are going to catch the real culprit of the crime with this"